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There’s a LOT more to it than that. Trelle’s issues seemed to be more with the fact that the monsters were being kept locked up and trotted out as cheap amusements, and that their aggressive behavior stemmed from their mishandling by clueless handlers out to make a few bucks. Had this occurred at a time when their WEREN’T half a dozen experienced warriors in attendance (as it might have, had we spent even a few minutes more at dinner with Stagzi), they would certainly have been killed by the constabulary, their only sin being dragged someplace without their will, drugged and exploited by callous and greedy carny folk.

I know those monsters were getting out no matter what, but Trelle’s extreme treehugger beliefs put her friend’s and the general public’s lives at risk during the fight, and her continued obstinance afterwards regarding euthanizing them can only leave the non-Torqs of the party seriously questioning her judgment. After all, she did totally disregard her compatriot’s first-hand knowledge of moon beasts, and she did physically attack/physically restrain her own party member against their will. At this moment in time I can only assume the rest of the (non-Torq) party members consider her, at the very least, incredibly annoying, if not just a dangerously unpredictable pain in the butt.

By the way I LOVE ALL OF THIS! Yay character drama! Can’t wait to see what Ket, Orem and Randus have to say to Trelle once they get somewhere private :) Kudos for great role-playing all around… for a few minutes there I thought we were leading up to a PvP episode =P

Indeed – it did seem to be on the cusp of Trelle turning on the party which made me wonder how that would be dealt with going forward, and whether Trelle would be able to continue with the party. As it was the final “puppy-sacking” seemed like a way for the party to solve their differences.

BTW did anybody else get the missed critical hit on Torq? i think some armour damage was called for there. I tried shouting it down my headphones but you didn’t seem to hear

Respectfully, Matthew, I disagree. While, as a ranger it makes perfect sense for Trelle to not want to see ANY animal in a pathetic carnival of humiliation, even aberrant horrors from beyond the moon; it DOESN’T make sense for her to want them to live. As a ranger it’s her job to protect the natural world from unholy abominations exactly like these. Rodrigo mentioned that there were both males and a female (or females and a male . . . or blip-blorps and a flitzer, sexing moon monsters is hard) and letting them go would almost certainly wreak havoc with the local environment. Think of, oh, pet boa constrictors released into the Everglades, or zebra mussels in the Great Lakes. That part of her demand just isn’t consistent with how a ranger is supposed to behave,

So what bothers me about it is that it doesn’t seem to make sense internally with Trelle’s established character. Where was the insistence on non-lethal damage in, say, the fight against the giant cockatoos in the Summer Kingdom? Having the moon monsters escape and get killed should be the best of all possible worlds for Trelle: the monsters are no longer caged, AND she gets to stop an ongoing crime against nature. Win-win.

tl;dr — wanting the monsters out of the cage and wanting them dead are not mutually exclusive.

I agree, and it’s the biggest issue I have with Trelle. She’s one giant pool of inconsistencies. I find it mildly frustrating listening to herself claim she is a hunter and likes to kill big prey, prepare weapons for a hunt (I.E the giant crocodile), and then turn around and say the animals/monsters don’t need to be hurt. She hates animal companions, yet didn’t hesitate when the massive eagles were summoned during the Winter Queen arc. That lead me to think “Hey maybe when the greater good asks of it, she can set aside her personal issues and continue forward.” NOPE. When arguing with someone who has fought with these monsters first hand and then wants them to be released completely disregarding the devastation it would cause the natural environment and even the towns people is just ridiculous. Not only that, it just doesn’t make sense. She’s so inconsistent and that’s what keeps me from really liking her as a character.

I agree with Ripspiritbear. To me, it didn’t make sense that an elf would care about something unnatural like the moon monsters. I always thought the lunar beasts were abominations, twisted and animated like dead flesh by the Void Gods.

After reading Matthew’s comment, it occurred to me that maybe something in Trelle’s past makes her hatred of slavery (if you can call it that with moon monsters) prevail over her hatred for beasts sent to the natural plane to exterminate all life?

Either way, makes for good drama. When a role player can make you tense up or irritate you by sticking to their character’s beliefs, it’s a good thing (mostly).

something in her past like say, an association with a certain greater fey?

really think Trelle is great. nice way to break up the boys club mindset.

now that im all caught up on episodes, it makes the battle centric episodes more fun to listen to, but dang it makes for a long week waiting for a new one! gonna have to start from the beginning again!

If her experience with that greater fey was what caused her to risk the lives of her companions and several innocent shoppers, then I’d have to just say she’s a bit off. Maybe that’s part of it, or maybe it was an off-the-cuff choice. Either way, ordering her companions around, attacking them, and then just “murdering” the beasts anyway seems crazy. Maybe that thing in her brain is doing more than she thinks…

Loved the episode. I’m not a huge fan of the largely battle-centric casting of pods but the drama at the end of the episode was completely worth it.

I would have to ask though in her adventures with Cammis prior to the return to the feywild if they had fought the creatures of the moon?

Trelle’s reaction is certainly in keeping with someone who had never encountered the monstrosities the way that the Torqueltones + Ket had.

Though I doubt the moon mares had the same programming as the infiltrate and destroy candleheads, I was waiting on Trelle’s nature check saying “You know that these creatures would definitely survive out in the wild. Unfortunately it would mean that pretty much nothing else would”.

I’m just waiting for that moon dragon to come back because they never actually killed it. Returning enemy perhaps?

Brian’s “Once More With Feeling” quotes just killed me, also loved the caged animals = wrong even if they are man eating aberrations form beyond the moon.

Trelle is is one bath away from a dirty hippie, no use for money, all about nature, freedom for animals and stuff. Randus and Keth are *so* waking up with cow poop in their boots and their friendship bracelet are growing thorns…

Coming to the party a little late here, but I agree. I wonder how much of the tension (that can be cut with a knife) is role playing and how much is real. I have heard several out of character exchanges between Adrianna and Rob that perked my ears up. I also heard something a few episodes further on (around 204ish) where Adrianna and Stephen seem to have some words.

And yet another great episode. I can only describe Critical Hit as “thrilling!” It’s totally the modern version of old time radio adventure serials with the added fun that it is truly unpredictable.

While I might not agree with everything Trelle does, her intense desire to have the moon beasts OUT of their cages was totally in character. She doesn’t have prior experience with them. And people who are always sensible no matter what the situation are boring to be around.

I thought the episodes with the moon beast show in Basalt were a lot of fun to listen to. There’s some new character conflict, which flowed naturally from the situation, which is SO much more interesting than making up random conflict “just ‘cuz.” And the party could bring the conflict to a truce for now – which is SO much better than randomly holding grudges in the name of random conflict.

Keep up the great work, everyone. Can’t wait to find out what happens next.

Man….this episode is the first to actually make me dislike one of the main characters. Ket was really being a jerk, gleefully acting to hurt Trelle. There’s doing what has to be done, and then there’s rubbing your friends nose in harsh realities.

He definitely took the step from lovable rogue to party jerk this episode. At least Randace felt bad that doing what had to be done hurt Trelle…

Ket strikes me as a “big picture” motivation kind of character. Trelle acted on her personal motivations, which put the group in potential danger (never a cool thing). While he may have been a little cruel to her in ignoring her desires there was no other option than for those things to die. No one in the group would be okay with sidetracking the mission to save the world to save some lunar monsters.

The real problem is that Ket essentialy made the decision to kill the monsters before she could work it out on her own, which just came down to communication breaking down in the group.

I know this is way late but, lots of people are catching up at any given time…

This is one of the few instances I’d disagree with Rodrigo’s running.
Trell’s declared action should not have taken precedence and completely overruled Ket’s via GM fiat.
I don’t like PVP – but if it’s going to happen in my game it’s going to be fair. The way this was conducted Ket at a mechanical/action disadvantage that is not supported by the rules.
Either role initiative and see if Ket got off his Coup De Grace before Trell managed to restrain him. OR if you were going with Ket’s Coup attempt provoking an attack of opportunity from Trell – then Trell’s grapple attempt should have provoked an attack of opportunity from Ket (e.g. Ket. straight arming her or putting his palm in her face or popping up a flash of light and a bang to startle her back (maybe a will save to continue to initiate the grapple?))
Then Trell’s grapple should have needed to hit Ket’s AC
Being grappled shouldn’t keep Ket from attacking an adjacent creature (not all of Ket’s attacks are ranged) (I would think it probably prevent Coup De’ Grace and Ket would just get an attack role and standard damage).
But MOSTLY putting it in to combat round(s) means everyone else gets a chance to react/ intervene or has to actively choose not to take part. As was it left Rob with very few options and most of the party in the position to apply 20×20 hindsight.
Also, Ket’s using an implement to cast his spell or not using an implement really doesn’t make that much difference – either way it does not have to be lethal (as pointed out in the preceding combat) anymore then Trell’s grapple could inflict lethal or non-lethal damage. A magic wielding PC using magic (non-lethally) on someone that is grappling them makes perfect sense. Would you wait till your PC was pinned? If outclassed by someone by 50 pounds of muscle in real life would you wait till they had you in a grapevine and were breaking your hip to fight back?

Re-listening to the podcast for the second time through, the whole thing with Trelle’s heel turn from massacring native species of the Feywild to protect the sapient races and being thrilled at the opportunity to hunt the sapphire dragon in the Hogba adventure to going PVP over the lives of lunar monstrosities is even more infuriating than last time. If this was how she acted all the time, fine. But this sudden out of left field character decision just really got under my skin. In every other aspect I really loved Adrianna’s addition to the game and the way she played Trelle, but this set of episodes really threw me for a loop. Like, she was talking about bears and other wildlife as if they were equivalent to moon monsters. As a ranger and an elf, Trelle would know that bears may occasionally kill people, but certainly do not seek humanoid species as prey or feed on them as a general rule. It just doesn’t make any sense at all.

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